Deeply entrenched fears and looming insecurities are terrifying in their own right, but they’re even more sinister when they’re used against you. When confronting personal obstacles in a daunting pitch-black dreamscape akin to Stranger Things‘ the Upside Down or Insidious‘ the Further, the only way out is through. Interdimensional 21st-century references aside, writer-director Rachael Cain’s debut feature Somnium explores the nuanced world of dreams — in the sense of mental imagery during slumber and “I want to be a star”— and their connection to memories and internal struggle.
Chloë Levine stars as Gemma, an aspiring actor who moves from a tiny town in Georgia to Los Angeles, where she delves into the inner workings of the city’s most mysterious experimental sleep clinic. Founded by sports psychologist Dr. Katherine Shaffer (Gillian White), Somnium claims to “make dreams come true” via a six-week sleep-pod process. With little care for the facility’s reputation or ethics, a financially desperate Gemma takes a graveyard-shift job as the clinic’s “sleep sitter” (a.k.a. groundskeeper), a position that’s apparently been “a bit of a nightmare” to fill (pun likely intended). But as Gemma enters the merciless Hollywood scene, hungry for auditions and vapid networking opportunities, while simultaneously grieving a painful hometown breakup, she experiences unnerving visions of a humanoid creature. As it turns out, beneath Somnium’s grand promises lie sinister truths that erode the boundaries of reality and illusion — not to mention consent — making Gemma’s introduction to LA extra hellish.
What’s bizarre about Somnium isn’t its take on a cryptic, slightly futuristic wellness clinic in Hollywood; Somnium’s a fairly ordinary facility, at least by LA standards. What’s strange is Cain’s insistence on blending themes and genres, even when they don’t work. Part creature feature and part medical sci-fi film, Somnium bites off more than it can chew. But its imaginative and borderline surrealist portrait of a wide-eyed LA transplant who yearns for success as a budding actor satiates enough. With overtones of The Substance and undertones of both Requiem for a Dream and Starry Eyes, Somnium explores the intersection of fame and manifestation with vigor, despite its shortcomings.
Sleep Pods, Humanoid Creatures and an Enigmatic Producer
Somnium is vague about its titular sleep clinic’s technology, failing to offer something as genius as the ancient DNA theory of Jurassic Park (an idea that can be credited to the novel’s author, Michael Crichton). Generally, each individual regimen is programmed based on a client’s hopes and dreams, which are then embedded deep into their subconscious minds as they sleep in sleek pods that are said to block light and sound. Oddly, these same sleep pods feature large panels of transparent glass and are placed in rooms that glow with color-changing lights and LED neon signs — a creative choice that feels contradictory, if not nonsensical.
“After six weeks, it’s like, deep down, they believe these things to be personal truths,” apathetic Somnium employee Noah (Will Peltz) explains. “It’s that deep belief that manifests these dreams into reality.” When Gemma questions whether the process actually changes the client’s reality or just their perception of it, Noah replies, “What’s the difference?” It’s a standout moment, one that feels topical during a time when people are leaning into the supposed powers of manifestation to alter their own reality. Though Cain wrote the first full draft of Somnium between 2011 and 2014 — eventually winning First Place in the LA Screenplay Competition — it feels very current: The Guardian, Popsugar UK and Vice have released pieces on Gen Z’s obsession with manifestation, and Gen Z-focused digital wellness company Manifest launched its app of the same name in 2024.
The film’s manifestation theme may have been more powerful if it wasn’t muddied by a parallel theme of memory, which is honed via emotionally rich and grounded flashbacks of Gemma’s relationship with her ex-boyfriend Hunter (Peter Vack). Though these scenes are executed beautifully thanks to impassioned performances from Levine and Vack, they’re superabundant, and would be more fitting for a film like Blue Valentine. If Somnium refined its connection between manifestation and memory, its overall vision would shine brighter.
Given the extended period of work Cain put into the film, it’s hard to say whether Somnium was inspired by Coralie Fargeat’s 2024 feminist body-horror hit The Substance. But its parallels to the Oscar-winning film are notable. While The Substance feels futuristic in many ways, other elements — the decor in Elizabeth Sparkle’s apartment, the entire concept of a workout show turning a nobody into a superstar — are remarkably retro. As for Somnium, the clinic is famous for a futuristic technology that also happens to use filing cabinets, early-2000s digital cameras and boxy computers plucked from the late ’90s. Scattered binders, manilla folders and PVC faux-wood paneling make the clinic feel like a stuffy, outdated dentist’s office, and the party outfits feel very tech-inspired Y2K. (To be fair, that’s trendy in 2025.)
It all feels intentional and cheeky, as does the inclusion of cartoonishly suave film and TV producer Brooks (Johnathon Schaech). Brooks’ questionable intentions and air of sexy mystery set him apart from The Substance‘s powerful TV studio exec, played by a wonderfully nauseating Dennis Quaid. But there are other similarities in these over-the-top caricatures of men. Brooks’ purpose in the film is more or less to act as a physical representation of manifesting dreams, and it’s not a stretch to understand the alien-like being haunting the protagonist as a physical representation of her fears and insecurities. Still, Brooks and the creature both get lost in a story that’s unsure how to utilize them properly.
Somnium attempts to cover a lot: the exploration of manifestation and the psyche, the challenges that come with facing fears and a traumatic past and the dangers of pursuing stardom in a hyper-competitive industry, among others. There’s even a potential nod to the California Welfare and Institutions Code’s controversial 5150 holds, in the form of Somnium’s emergency Cloud Nine procedure. With so many ideas splayed out before the audience, Cain’s debut feature grapples with its identity. Regardless, Somnium‘s declaration that people all dream of the same core things — like love, success, happiness and security — is notable.
From Yellow Veil Pictures, Somnium will hit LA theaters on August 29, 2025. The film’s NYC theatrical run begins on September 6, 2025.
Source link
Add Comment